Tragic Clothing Factory Blaze in Bangladesh Has Taken no Fewer than 16 Victims
A minimum of 16 individuals have lost their lives after a enormous fire started at a clothing factory in Bangladesh, with officials stating that the number of victims could increase.
Sixteen bodies have been retrieved but were charred unrecognizable, the firefighters stated.
Distraught relatives gathered outside the multi-story factory in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday in seeking their family members still not found.
The blaze, which started at the factory around lunchtime, was extinguished after three hours. But an adjacent chemical warehouse remained ablaze, emergency services reported.
Until 21:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the fire at the chemical warehouse had not been fully extinguished, journalistic accounts said.
Fire department authorities have not ascertained which of the two buildings caught fire first.
Per bystanders, the chemical warehouse stored bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, all of which can accelerate fires. Plastic also releases toxic fumes when burned.
Law enforcement and armed forces are still trying to locate the owners of the factory and the warehouse, emergency services head the fire service official informed the media.
An investigation on whether the warehouse was functioning with proper authorization is also in progress, he mentioned.
Weeping family members gathered outside the burned buildings, many of them grasping photographs of their lost relatives.
Present at the scene is a man searching desperately for his daughter, his loved one.
"When I was informed of the fire, I came running. But I still cannot locate her... I just want my loved one back," he told news media.
The catastrophic occurrence has another time underscored the safety concerns plaguing Bangladesh's garment industry, which employs millions of workers and is a major provider of export earnings for the South Asian economy.
